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Tuesday, 23 July 2013

The challenge for Moo Mania this time is By the Sea. In this heat I can't think of a better place to be.

Here is my entry. A layered piece from a large stamp by Michael Powell focusing on the beach hut and lighthouse. It was a fiddly job cutting out the railings but I think the end result is pretty good. Simple colouring using ProMarkers.

Take a look at the other entries to this challenge, varied and beautiful as always.

If you visit me here please be kind enough to leave a comment, I read them all. Thanks.

Sunday, 21 July 2013

Oh what a joy to play with my new Gelli Plate. I have only had it a few days but they have been some of the best days ever. How much fun can a girl have?

FLIPPIN' LOADS!!!!

It is difficult to describe how these latest prints have come about, mainly because it is just so 'hands on'. I saved the not so good prints from the previous days and used them as the background for some of the prints I did today. I really recommend you keep all you trial prints. This is where the magic happens. You never know what you are going to get if you re-use them.

Take this one for example

I had tried to print some leaves but the first ones dried before I could take the print, only the last 3 stayed wet enough to be picked up. Disappointed, I set the piece of paper aside to dry. After doing a few more prints I decided to leave the Gelli plate 'dirty' and added some white paint. I spread it out with the brayer and of course the white paint got tainted with the residual colours. I then took the dry leaf print which I thought had failed and laid it on the 'not white' paint. Not only did the blue leaves show through, but the residual marks and spots left on the plate from the earlier prints were sucked up into the white. The only problem is you can never do the same thing again, which is a real shame as I love this print.

Trying to create the same thing is practically impossible but providing you have a wet enough paint base, similar colour prints can be made. Like in the following examples. I did add a little interest with some white spots on the last print because I was de-inking my stamp pad, but you can see that they are all from the same original laying down of paint.

I flicked through some of the less attractive prints from the early attempts and began to create some really interesting effects.

The red one was printed over an orange background which brightens the finished result. The central one is printed over a purple background giving a great contrast to the sage greens and the one on the far right is a print taken on a very bare plate with similar colours. The rings were formed using elastic bands dipped in paint and placed onto the plate.

This brings me on nicely to the next blog post I should do. I shall tell you about the things I have used so far to create the patterns in these prints. You will be surprised by some of the 'tools' I have found or developed.

As always, please leave a comment to say you have visited. I read all your comments.

Thursday, 18 July 2013

Just a quick blog about my new toy. Can't stay here for long as I NEED to do more printing.

I treated myself to a Gelli plate and it arrived yesterday. I spent most of yesterday watching some of the YouTube videos (are they called videos?) to familiarize myself with what I could and couldn't do with my plate. It took a lot of restraint I'll have you know NOT to get straight to it.

Seems that it is a shorter list of what NOT to do, which is a great help as I love experimenting.

Here are my first few pieces made using the plate. I will do a lot more explaining later but while I am getting quick drying times I might as well take advantage of the heat and keep on printing.

If you want to see more pictures now then pop over to my Facebook page HERE.

It would be nice if you left a comment either here or there. Thank you muchly.

Monday, 15 July 2013

So close to closing time for Moo Mania but just squeezing in this little beauty. Been very hot so haven't been able to get into my craft room for a few days. It gets the sun nearly all day long - phew.

The theme this time is Landscape. I know I have used this set of stamps before, but this is an even smaller version. I kept the colours all the same as I liked them so much.

Friday, 12 July 2013

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I had something exciting happening. Well I think it is about time I told you what has been going on.

I was recently asked by the very talented Sheena Douglass to join her design team. If you have ever seen any craft shows on the TV you will see them showing examples of the projects you can make using a particular product. Well clearly somebody has to make those, and this is part of what being in a Design Team is all about. So there I was saying 'Yes' to Sheena and wondering what I had let myself in for. Once my feet hit solid ground again (I had never done anything like it before) I waited nervously for the first request for samples to come in. I spent several days clearing the decks in my craft room, finishing off a few projects and generally getting excited about what was to come.

And then came the call. TV show, in 2 weeks, samples needed. So the last couple of weeks have been spent working on some samples to be featured on the shopping channel, Create and Craft on Tuesday 16th July. HERE is the link to the show details

I was provided with a selection of her lovely stamps and some Luminarte Primary Elements. The brief was 'Anything but a Card'.

Now as you know I love a challenge, I seem to enter some sort of blog challenge at least once a week, but this was altogether different. I could only use the products provided so no dipping into my stash for that special stamp or fancy embellishment.

So lets begin with the stamps I used. There are a lot of elements on each plate, which are A5 in size, and there are 2 other plates available in the Floral Fantasy range, Lily of the Valley and Wild Rose & Hibiscus. The Ageing Beautifully plate is part of the range 'A Little bit Sketchy' and is a very versatile stamp plate with some classic crackle and distress elements which I love.

Love the Bee

My Favourite

The Daffodils are Lovely

After some initial trials of what the colours of Primary elements could do, what surfaces they would work on, and some pondering about what to make that wasn't a card I came up with the following items.

Triptych

Box

Banner

Spoons

The Primary Elements set I had to work with is called FAIRYTALES. They shimmer beautifully and the colour is really intense. There are other sets available and I would happily say 'get the whole lot'. They need to be mixed with the binding agent (supplied) for use on card and can be used on metals, wood, polymer clay and fabric when mixed with a clear glaze medium (also supplied). They can be used without any binding/glaze for chalking/dusting techniques. The other sets are:-

Dragons Dance- Coral Berry, Sunflower, Hot Cinnamon

Costa Rica- Olive Vine, Kiwi, Majestic

Fairytales-Wisteria, Dragonfly Wing, Stargazer

Tahiti Dreams-Teal Zircon, Snapdragon, Pink Azalea

I also used some heat resist acetate for the wings of the bee and on the Triptych. This is brilliant stuff and as the name suggests can be used with a heat gun without causing problems. It is useful for heat embossing. On the Triptych I used black embossing powder to stamp the images then coloured on the reverse with the Primary Elements to give a stained glass effect and I used black StazOn ink on the acetate for the bee wings.

The stamps are wonderful to work with and used with the Rock a Blocks you get a crisp image every time. I am a convert I must say. I have always used the flat acrylic blocks in the past but the slightly curved Rock a Blocks are so easy and comfortable to use I can see them becoming my 'go to' product for rubber stamping.

So, having seen my projects I hope you are inspired to see more. Sheena will be demonstrating these products and some fabulous paints, which other DT members got to play with, in her own inimitable way on Create and Craft on Tuesday 16th July.

Look out for mine and all the other lovely samples created by the other Design Team members on that show.

Wednesday, 3 July 2013

I mentioned in my earlier post HERE that I enjoy making these little 2" x 2" projects. Well, the Twinchies Challenge Blog have set out their new challenge and it would simply be rude not to join in. So here is my entry with the theme Music and Lyrics.

I used two different sizes of violin stamps by KayCee (which I can't find on the internet anymore) simply stamped using Tuxedo Black onto water colour card. I stamped the smaller one first then masked that off before stamping the larger one. I coloured either side of the image with ProMarkers in Warm Grey 3 and Pastel Beige and finished it of with some teeny-tiny notes.

During photographing I was drawn to the shadow the Twinchie itself created on the photo stage (in my case this is a piece of pure white paper curved to form a shelf all held together with tape). Why hadn't I added dimension to the image by stamping the small violin again, cut it out and and placed it over the original image? Good question. So I promptly did just that.

New Improved Twinchie.

Once again I am surprised at how much detail you can get on such a small project. Hurrah for small stamps.

Long time no blog. In fact long time no play either. Been busy getting ready for something amazing.

This is why I love the Twinchie challenge so much because I can make something nice in such a short space of time and still feel I have allowed my creative spirit out for a while.

The theme is English Country Garden over at Show us your Twinchies so I thought I would use one of my new Sheena Douglass stamps from the set Silhouette Grasses/A Little Bit Scenic. I used water colour card for the base, ProMarker pens in Pastel Blue and Buttercup for the background and the Moss colour ProMarker for the green layer of seed heads and grasses. I used Tuxedo Black for the foreground seed heads.

As you know by now I am a sucker for putting words on my projects, and today is no exception. A few hand drawn birds complete the image and give additional depth. Not sure what that yellow thing in the sky is though.